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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Thursday, December 2, 2010

It's Chanukkah, everybody! I can't believe you didn't remember! I mean, I've known for... uh, weeks and... weeks. [poker face] And, naturally, since I knew this day was coming well in advance, I've been saving all the best Hanukah wrecks for this very moment.

Like... um...this one:

Now, Jen's the one with the Jewish roots, but I believe this is called a "men-OR-ah."

You know, I'm Catholic and I'm really, really used to God being referred to by all sorts of (good) nouns, like father, mother, lord, protector, etc. But 'cute'? The Star of David--the Shield of David--being referred to as 'cute'???

Oh, Sandra Lee. Does anyone remember the Cosby Show episode(s) where someone sneaked a piece of cake, then stuffed it with other materials and re-iced to cover up their thivery? I got real nervous when she went for the paper towels.

Oh, Sandra Lee! No one can wreck something like you.That's not really doing it for me as a Star of David. But maybe I'm not seeing it because I'm not Jewish. Although that means I could eat the marshmallows, methinks.

I'm trying to remember who referred the Kwanzaa cake from the same episode as "a hate crime on a plate."

You CAN get kosher marshmallows made with fish gelatin, which I currently have in my cupboard for my son allergic to eggs and beef. It doesn't look like she used that brand, but, really, that's the least of her semi-homemade culinary sins!

P.S. most marshmallow's actually aren't kosher because regular gelatine isn't. But since it's unlikely anything else in that "the flour and eggs died for this?!" angel food monstrosity are, it probably doesn't matter!

Ok,first of all- you could'nt find any more authentic Hanukah wrecks? Come on guys, I am dissapointed! Second, every single kosher grocery store sells kosher marshmallows. Third that cake on the video looks nauseating- it looks like its frosted in silly putty. And lastly, putting wires straight into a cake is not food safe, although none of that cake looks food safe imho.....

I saw the Kwanzaa cake as well!!! That was one wrecktastic episode wasn't it? I love how "semi-homemade" involves store-bought cake,icing, and marshmallows(???). Apparenly food coloring and horrible, inedible plastic are the homemade part?

My decor doesn't match anything found in the baking aisle, and the pearl-wire-marshmallow combo WOULD make for an interesting serving conundrum. I would be so p*ssed to get a slab of frosted-grocery-store angel-food-cake-with-marshmallows.

Oh, and marshmallows are totally not Kosher! (I HAD to, sorry!) *giggle*

I think we can file Sandra Lee in the "reasons people from other countries believe Americans are idiots" folder. They PAY her? To put a can (*ptoooii*) of frosting on a cake she didn't make and garnish it with inedibles and unkosherables?

Um... I know not of this Epcot shelter, but I would like to be invited. I make excellent brownies! We had our traditional fried latkes last night, and they qualified as more of a wreck than that cake (they were made by a 7 year old after all). I should have taken a picture...

Now I am tempted to order a dreidel cake just so I can help give you some material.

Ironically, Greater Kansas City has a fairly large Jewish population. And a remarkable number of truly inspired wreckerators to -ahem- "celebrate" the occasion. We're talking actual, "plastic-dredle-menorah-and-star-of-david", purpose-built WRECKS, rather than the garden-variety "it's blue and white, so it's Chanukkah" sort showcased here. Lucky us.

I'm SO jumping in the bunker with Leslie and NiteNurse! I'll bring cream puffs! You know, the "semi-homemade" kind that you buy "at the store" and then "eat"...in your "home." BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I LOVE THIS BLOG SO MUCH!!!

Ugh, this Sandra Lee can do better than that! I'm glad it was marked as humor because I didn't see the humor; just weird. I finally saw the reason for the marshmallows as some one pointed out to hold up her "star of David".Sandra Lee

I love how Sandra is so casual about frosting, but "first, I have to put in the marshmallows..." as if that is a perfectly normal thing to do. GROSS! Frosted angel food aside, plastic, inedible pearls aside (nothing says Festival of Lights like a string of plastic pearls from the craft store!), and even if you can ignore the monstrosity of the "star"/pearl/wire thing, who wants to slice into a cake and find blue-frosting-gooped fat marshmallows inside?! Again, GROSS!

As if the chemical-vanilla frosting tinted with chemical-blue coloring wasn't enough on the storebought cake, the scene where she's using the spatula to stuff the marshmallows in the hole in the center just before she paves it all over with more grody frosting is just the summation of all the reasons why I despise Sandra Lee and all she tries to feebly stand for.

I'm all for shortcuts when you're busy, but if all you can do is dump some repulsive frosting on a storebought cake, then just buy a cake. Already frosted. Stop the pretense that you even gave a rat's red rump of caring.

OK, so is NO ONE else going to say how loud they laughed at their computer after seeing the ccc {ptuie} "As you can see, it's very Jewish." Am I the only one who thinks that is comedy genious?? OMG. I love it. Hysterical.

That...that last cake is just beyond gross. I cannot believe that woman gets paid to do cooking on TV. I don't even bake that much and I could do a 100% better job. UGH! And I looove frosting but I think she might have just made me disgusted by frosting for the first time in my life. "I'll just draw some lines on this with my knife, for a little decorative touch." Nothing says decorative like, "I can use a butter knife. Watch!"

Seriously, was that a comedy sketch or was she truly in earnest? I will wonder about this all day. If it WAS a comedy sketch, well then...marvelously done. Marvelous.

Upupaepops, Sandra Lee is a multi-million cookbook-selling author with multiple shows on the Food Network. (It gets better: she's dating New York's governor elect, so expect Semi-Homemade gubernatorial events. Can't wait 'til she serves this Hanukkah cake to one of New York's Jewish communities!) She is completely serious.Food Network Humor is a site devoted to making fun of photos and clips of Food Network's hosts, including Sandra Lee.

I watch Sandra Lee only for the laughs - anyone else notice how she's always "cooking" or "baking" whilst toting a cocktail??? It's no wonder she comes up with these Semi-Homemade monstrosities - she's always toasted! I saw a hoilday decorating special with her just last week on HGTV and was waiting to see her with a drink in her hand...not once; I was thoroughly disappointed.LOVE CW!!!!! This was hilarious today! And I too can't wait to see what Kwanzaa brings :)

Have you ever watched someone and been totally embarrassed for the person?? Yeah. Sandra Lee. I'm talking about you... you're not horrified, but I am. Probably enough for both of us... oh, and by the way, apparently your friends and family HATE YOU because they let you (and probably encourage you!) to do crap like this... I'm just sayin.

I love Cakewrecks! But please help me out--I don't watch Food Network and haven't heard of Sandra Lee. Is this real? I watched the clip and it looks so much like a Saturday Night Live parody. I was sure that's what it was since her stage makeup was so obvious--and who would put marshmallows in the center of an angel-food cake? Surely this clip at least was created as a joke? (please?)

Anne-with-an-e -- aw yeah, marsh melons! Apparently in the 23rd century you can get marsh melons that don't have any cows or fish in 'em. Maybe someone makes vegetarian marsh melons to cater to the Vulcan market. That's my quest, to find some that are made with agar or something else that is not an animal.

I am Jewish and I have a good sense of humor. I think it is very sad that you don't have any true Chanukah wrecks.

That being said....The Star of David is not a true symbol of God. It is a symbol of Judaism, of the Jewish people, and of Jewish identity, but we have other symbols for God, the most obvious and common one being the Chai symbol, which you will also often see represented on pendants of necklaces. So I'm not sure why Anonymous got so puffed up about it.

Anyway, that *thing* that she made out of wire and pearls is definitely *not* a star of david.

Also...frosting from a can? Really? Really?! *throws up a little* And to make matters worse, she referred to it as "icing." It is definitely frosting. It is fluffy and contains fats, rather than being thin and sugary.

When I am done banging my head on the kitchen counter, I'll start laughing. Thanks, Jen and John. I'm going to share this with my Jewish friends at the Chanukah party we're having on Saturday so we can all go in the Epcot shelter with our latkes and applesauce and laugh/commiserate together. =)

Be sure to use just the right shade of blue so that when your guests vomit piles of blue-spackled "cake" embedded with marshmallows onto your decor, you can rest assured it will match perfectly. Extra points for horking up pearls and wire!

It's hilarious that her idea of making a cake is to take a store-bought cake and put a can of store-bought frosting on it.And she apparently thinks that non-food-safe thing with the plastic pearls is a Star of David.I can't tell from the video whether she used Kosher or un-Kosher marshmallows*, but what difference does it make? Nobody's going to eat that thing anyway, are they?

Here's my recipe for Beef Wellington:Buy some Beef Wellington. Put it on a plate. Serve.Can I have my own cooking show now?

*Yes, some marashmallows are Kosher. There are even vegetarian marshmallows. I've seen them.

Ugh - marshmallows, angel food cake and tinned frosting? The sugar overload is making my teeth hurt just thinking about it :( I'm all for convenience, and I've used cake mix and tinned frosting in a pinch, but her combination is just scary, not to mention yucky :P

As a californian, I would like to point out that A) it's not that warm here on Christmas, B) we like big, heavy holiday meals here as much as anywhere and C)even if we didn't, angelfood cake stuffed with marshmallows and frosted doesn't exactly sound like a warm-weather treat.

That said, hailing from across the pond, I'd never heard of Sandra Lee. I looked her up on Wikipedia following this post, naturally assuming she was a spoof or sketch comedian doing a 'bit' on professional cookery experts.

Oh, how wrong I was.

And, of course, a happy Chanukah to all, regardless of faith, gender, or spelling preference. ;)

It takes true talent to wreck cakes for 3 holidays at once! The so called Hanukkah was horrible, but so were the other two. Why do wreckerators insist on making stuff like candles and snowflakes out of cupcakes? It just doesn't work well. That being said, I would just love to see some wreckage involving Menorahs and Dreidles. Or even Herschel the Hanukkah Goblin. The lack of actual Hanukkah wreckage almost makes wish I was Jewish so I could get a decently decorated cake.

You dirty bastard. That's going to take the whole day to get out of my head. Wait! I know that antidote. A-ha's Take on Me! Taaaake meeeee oooooon! IIIII'l beeeee gooooone in a day or tooooooooooooooooo!

Ha!

Just to make sure I get the Sandra cake right, I shove marshmallows in the center and glob frosting on it? Got it. Now that's baking at it's finest.

I guess one advantage of adhering to a minority spirituality like paganism is that we are not likely to find horrid renditions of pentacles, etc. in local bakeries. lol. Our Yule is Dec. 21... mulled wine, hot cider, and delicious noms of any and all types! XD I may take a tip from y'all and make a batch of donuts myself. Delish!

CantStop, we look forward to the Chanukah wrecks that you will submit to the site for posting! ;)

With all this talk about marshmallows, I had to throw in my vegan marshmallow expertise... Google "Dandies Marshmallows" and/or "Sweet and Sara" to find delicious hoof free marshmallows that taste A-MAZE-ING.

(Just please, please don't stuff them into cake holes. Even if it matches your decor...)

Why is everyone hating on Sandra?? This is the holiday season of giving and she's given us a gift o laughter. And a drinking game. Every time she uses the word" grrrrreat" drink. Every time she uses a word that starts with "L", drink.

In our home we celebrate Hanukkah AND Christmas (I'm trying to figure out how to celbrate Kwanza without getting funny looks,)yet you've taught me so much. Tonight we will wait for the Ghost of Chawnucahs with hopeful hearts. If I don't receive a Holy Jewish Dreamcatcher, I'll know that Santa is always good for a Blessed Christian Geegaw of some kind.Amen And happy Hanukkah!

I agree with whomever said "WHO ICES ANGEL FOOD CAKE?"Seriously, who does that?Aren't you just supposed to slap strawberries on it and your done?!

I was confused by her show. How is this on TV still? She iced a pre-bought cake with pre-made icing. How is this a cooking/baking show?! Anybody can come up with that. We watch the shows to get new and better ideas!

1. I am not even sure my marshmallow obsessed cat would approve of this cake or of kosher marshmallows.

2. I have frequently seen frosted/iced angel food cake - sometimes at the local wreckery, but most often at work. (at at hospital)The dietary manager puts sugar-free frosting on sugar-free angel food cake for birthdays for diabetics since they can't really have the good stuff.

3. Wow. By Sandra Lee logic *I* have a total Hanukkah decor thing rocking for Christmas. ALL of my Christmas decorations are blue/silver/white. OH and so was my wedding. How very kosher of me, apparently!

I confess that my mother used to put Saran Wrap in the center of ring pound cake so that she could frost it smooth on top but marshmallows????? Heavens!

No one has brought up the problem with CUTTING the cake yet I believe. As we all know, angel food cake is texturally different from standard cake and requires a sawing motion to cut.

Here's the humor, folks! Your unsuspecting guest comes up all set to push the knife down into the cake to cut that slice of marshmallow-y goodness and crushes the LIFE out of that angel food cake! Gales of laughter all around!

Oh, the comic genius of Sandra Lee. (Not really, just trying to find a bright-ish side to this wreck-tastic wreck-tacular.)

We generally don't make Hanukkah themed cakes. Most of our Jewish customers order their cakes in advance with specific decorations... or they don't buy cake. Cause well, it's not Kosher. I also have never insulted anyone with a Kwanza cake.

If it were up to me we would not do any holiday themed things. Just winter themed things. Like snowmen, with the word winter.

being a jew who celebrate the holiday of hanukah and the miracles that took place, i find this post rather offensive, the pictures you posted have nothing to do with jews or hannukah, at least you could have made some connection to the holiday instead of putting up snow flakes and calling them jewish because they are blue and white, sorry for being rude, but i'm offended.

@Miranda. Cake Yule logs. Made with Swiss Cake Rolls and little tubes of decorative icing. Oh Goddess, what have I done now? I hope Sandra doesn't read this, though as a Pagan myself I would approve of this activity for preschoolers, just not for grown, able women with their own cooking show.

@ DD - I, too, was surprised to make it through so many comments before I saw one about the Jewish candle, and I'm totally with you that it's comic genius. AHAHAHAHA!!! It reminds me of a quote from a movie where a woman is holding a knife to a man's *ahem* privates and she says, "With one flick of my wrist I could change your religion." John (the hubby of Jen), if you can name the movie, I will slow clap in your direction! :)

A friend of mine has warned me about this Sandra Lee person, but having never watched the show I thought my friend was exaggerating. It seems she was actually being quite kind. That was just..I can't even...wow. My five year old with serious fine motor skill issues can and HAS made better looking baked goods. So sad.

my favorite part of today's post is learning about foodnetworkhumor.com (link for the video)... especially since yesterday's post was sandra lee's "sensuous chocolate truffles". i've heard of a poo-gasm, but that's just too much for my holiday table.

so loosely defined (by her anyway) she is "making" a Hanukkah cake. which leads me to wonder why the weather at christmas is at all relevant? like "here, make this hanukkah cake to have at your christmas dinner!"

anyway.. I have some pictures of some decent(ly wreckie) dreidal cakes... I may have to send them in...

This is my first time commenting. I had never heard of this Sandra woman before. I guess that's a benefit of not having had cable for the past 8 years. So I went and looked up the Kwanzaa cake video...and I noticed something rather telling.

Ok, she's allowed to say that the frosting she uses is storebought. But do you see that she has to peel the label off it before she can use it?? Whoever's frosting she's buying apparently doesn't want the product placement!

I've seen Sandra Lee COOKBOOKS in Costco--never have looked at them, since I like to cook. I can't believe you need a RECIPE to do that kind of stuff.

Why is "angel food cake perfect for the holidays"?--I can see it for Christmas... I'm not Jewish, but I don't think there were angels in the event celebrated with Hanukkah, and angel food cake isn't a "fried in oil" food. Maybe the marshmallows stuffed in the middle are supposed to represent the oil in the lamp??? Oh dear....

We've tried the kosher marshmallows made with fish gelatin. My kids have food allergies, and so I shop a lot at Whole Foods. The only type of marshmallows they had this summer before our camping trip were the kosher ones, so we gave them a try. They didn't taste that weird, although they were a bit different. They definitely don't stand up to the heat though. We had a rare heat wave for Washington state that weekend, and so the marshmallows melted together. When my 5-year-old twins went to roast them at the late evening campfire, the marshmallows came out in sticky globs. People around the campfire thought my kids were roasting cauliflower!

Thanks again for all the great laughs--both on the post and the many comments. See you all in the Epcot bunker!

WV: neysion--you can offend an entire neysion with these cakes, how wonderful!

I chaven't chad so much fun reading the comments page in a LONG time. I chad a feeling the marshmallows would quickly become Epcot.

I died a little watching the video. I'm making a Chanukah cake for my daughter's birthday. It will be blue and white as well, but it will NOT match my decor and even with my lack of expertise will HAVE look better than that marshmallow-gorged monstrosity.

@ bluewhite:I made the mistake of taking a drink of water just before I read your comment...it took all my powers to keep from spewing water all over my laptop (of course now I know how to neaten that right up with paper towels!). I love the word "hork" hahaha! The idea of someone making sure their crap store frosting matches their home decor in case of puking...hey, has Martha Stewart gotten in on this yet? I mean, she really NEEDS that concept.

Wow. For the record, I'm Jewish and was NOT offended at all by the post, in fact it was pretty hilarious. As for the lack of real Chanukah cakes, lets just say cake isn't really a a Chanukah thing, in fact I don't think I've ever seen a Chanukah cake in my 26 years. I don't imagine they're too in demand because traditional Chanukah foods are fried, like donuts. I don't know why but in Israel the Chanukah donut is a jelly filled donut called a sufganiya (plural sufganiyot)

As for the marshmallows, you can find quite good kosher marshmallows. I've had both kosher and non-kosher marshmallows and while the kosher ones are denser and tend to stick there isn't much difference in taste.

Bah, that video! I know that the stereotypes about Americans are just stereotypes and I shouldn't believe that they apply to a large segment of the population... But American television sure loves to reinforce certain views of Americans.

This "cake" from the video was something that I would never even have considered - and especially not done that way. Buying regular angel food from the grocery store? Buying ready-made frosting from the grocery store? It just makes me think "how lazy or pressed for time can you possibly be?" I mean - if you're planning to bake a cake anyway you could at least do something yourself, right? Especially two such easy and relatively quick things.

It reminds me of when my sister lived in the US for a while. She had a get together with some friends and brought cookies. They complimented her on them and asked where she bought them. She explained that she hadn't bought them, she baked them. So then their question was.. "Oh, ok, so where did you buy the dough?"

It would never even occur to me to actually buy cookie dough. But apparently buying dough and putting it in the oven constituted "baking" in their eyes.

Uhm, but I don't believe those stereotypes about Americans, of course not ;)

Good grief, tell me that vid isn't real! Please! I mean, the mutilation of that cake was...painful to watch. Oh and don't get me started on the "star" she mashed in there.

Also loved the generalization about how people in warm climates don't want big meals. Um, what? As a Florida resident, let me speak for other tropic/swamp-dwelling folk: it's not all that warm on December 25th, and the temp does not affect our meal sizes. We have air conditioning, after all.

Anonymous said:"Ok, she's allowed to say that the frosting she uses is storebought. But do you see that she has to peel the label off it before she can use it?? Whoever's frosting she's buying apparently doesn't want the product placement!"

She has discovered another revenue stream. If I were making prepared cake frosting, I would gladly pay her a monthly retainer NOT to show my product's label or mention my brand in connection with the "cakes" she "makes" on her programs.

I was laughing so hard after watching Sandra's video, I had to read the comments! My husband came home and knew I had totally lost it. Thank you for a great ending to a marginal day.

I still can't get over matching my icing to my decor. I don't really like cooking or baking, but I would never buy an angel food cake and cover it with store bought frosting. My Mennonite grandmothers are rolling in their graves!

I don't get the Food network so I've never seen this woman at work. Somebody please tell me the show isn't serious. Is it a spoof? That was the most horrific cake decorating show I've ever seen. Stuffing marshmallows in the middle of the cake? Oy!

Really? That blue thing called "cake" actually made debut time on a t.v. show? Though I like how she had to remind the audience that the pearls are not edible and we have to take them off before cutting. Thanks Sandra Lee! >.<

And I never knew Sauron was Jewish! ( In reference to the candle cup-cake cake XD )

"The great Jewess herself" bahahahaha!!!I enjoyed lots of the comments just as much as the post...you guys are awesome. but...I am disappointed in those of you who chose to find something to be offended by. Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time should know that John and Jen's only goal is to make you laugh, not to hurt anyone's feelings. If you don't get the joke...read the post again before getting your panties in a wad.

I couldn't stop myself from googling dreidel cakes. What a horrifying mess of hilarity. I have no idea if they were professional bakers or not so I didn't post a link but try it yourself for some giggles. ;-)

I have actually seen frosted angel food cake quite a few times. Often, it is not only frosted but plastered with a thick layer of coconut as well.

As for Sandra Lee... Hubby and I occasionally watch her just for the laughs. That whole matching the frosting to your decor thing is totally par for the course with her since matching her food and her decorations is a big part of her philosophy. She makes me nauseous, but she is good for an "OMG, she can NOT be serious!" laugh once in a while.

I didn't even look at the video and I'm already whimpering in pain. I saw the Kwanzaa cake she did last year, and have a feeling that this would only be slightly less traumatizing cause there are less items.

Just wanted to say that I had a really rough day today and was in tears by the time I sat down to the computer this evening. Your wreck-commentary really got me smiling and I feel much better now. Thanks for the free therapy!

Be sure to catch Sandra's next special: "How to fool your guests into thinking they are worth your time."

If 'my' cake just had to have a bogus decoration in the middle, I would give some thought (!) to, I dunno, maybe not using a cake that always has a hole where I want the decoration to be. Especially if I don't want my guests to be 'surprised' by the 'filling'.

Given how long that cake is likely to be around, matching the decor would be a prime consideration.

But you know, we all have the problem of what to serve during the searing heat of Christmastime -- it sure seems to me that angel food cake stuffed with marshmallows and troweled over with frosting ought to be ideal. Maybe the idea is to distract guests from the heat by nursing a toothache. What planet is she from, anyway -- Mercury?

Wow... I have never heard of Sandra before. What quality programming! No wonder people think we Americans are morons. It always makes me cringe to watch TV cooks try to ice a cake. I just want to slap them. poke poke slather smear. ick

Um...'kay. Sandra Lee is just...uh...geez. I don't have words for the horribleness that is her iced angelfood/marshmallow monstrocity, except to say that her "Star of David" looks like a plastic bead necklace Patrick Star (you know, from Sponge Bob). That is all.

Oh, and I'm sure people are way more offended by the Sandra bit than the completely accidental (obviously) misspelling of Hanukkah. ;)

I never thought it possible but looking at that "Candle" cake I am struck dumb.. I have nothing to say that wouldn't get me into trouble lol. Sad.. and scary. At least Sandra Lee's cake looked like a cake albeit it had plastic pearls on it.

Oh no, my decor is green...does that mean I can't make one of these delectable looking cakes? Ptoui, I'm so disappointed, and I had some plastic beads out of the toy box and some wire out of the garden shed all ready too....

Ohhhhh I thought you were telling me Sarah Lee was a real person. I just now caught they're two different people...By the way, worst semi-homemade jewish cake ever. Just no, people. No. SOmeoen should rub her nose in that pile of doo.

For those lucky enough to not have cable/or seen the show. I can tell you for a fact that Sandra Lee is real and doesn't intend to be funny, which makes the wreck so much more, wrecktifying... Her show "Semi-homemade" has been a staple on foodnetwork for a few years now. I remember watching a behind the scenes show of a bunch of chefs (trust me I didn't watch it to learn about Sandra) and remember Sandra going on and on about the concept of ther show and how each episode has it's own theme and how she goes to party stores and antique stores to decorate her set for each episode... yeah...

Those wrecks are horrifying, even though they aren't actually Hanukkah cakes... perhaps to stem the Epcot tied you should link to some of your old Hanukkah wrecks and sweets? I know I've seen them when browsing through your archives.

Hi, I normally just lurk, but I had to reply to the person who asked if Peeps were kosher. They didn't used to be, but they are now, at least in America. This apparently was a Big Deal to my friend who was raised Catholic and converted to Judaism.

Dear Jen, John, and the rest of the awesome people who read this blog and post.

There is an even greater source of Sandra Lee Wreckiness out there. I don't recall ever seeing it here, so I apologize if it has been. Have you ever seen Sandra Lee on the old Mario Lopez show making a "wedding cake?" I'll try to post the link below, but if it doesn't work, just go to you tube, search on "Mario Lopez Sandra Lee" and look at the third clip from that show.

I was giggling all the way through the post today....till I got to good old Sandra. GROSS!!!! That literally made me sick. And my mom just lurves her to pieces. *smacks forehead*

Oh, I live in southern Arizona where it is hot, hot, hot IN THE SUMMER. However, considering we just came through a cold spell where it was 18 degrees where we live, I think I'll stick to my heavy meals and (actual) homemade, delicious cakes my daughter makes.

I'd be more inclined to go scoop up some horse poo and prickly pear cactus for dessert than eat sandra's cake. I'm diabetic - that cake can kill!!

I always asked for an angel food cake for my birthday each year because that's my favorite kind of cake. When I was seven my grandma asked me what kind of cake and I said, "Blue angel food!" And by golly, she frosted an angel food cake blue.

My friend and I tuned into Sandra Lee all the time in undergrad. We were amazed by her "recipes", but we really just loved how she redecorated the kitchen EVERY show. My favorite was the pool party where all the swimming suits, pool toys, and dishes were the same shade of orange! And who can forget the "tablescapes"! I still remember the rusted birdcage she wrapped ribbon around to decorate for a visit by her son. I'm sure he loved that!

She makes it seem so natural to throw marshmallows inside an angel food cake. Stuffing a turkey? Hand over the marshmallows! Out of bread crumbs for the stuffed mushroom caps? Mini marshmallows, please. Son caugh his first fish? I could go and on...

PS As an antidote, find Julia Child's program wherein she persists in destroying a poor innocent Buche Noel until she administers the coup de grace--a haystack of spun caramel. A masterpiece of horror and suspense.

Dear Jen & John -- I will never, ever forgive you for introducing me to the abomination that is Sandra Lee. I'm off to YouTube now to watch more, since I've already watched all the car wrecks and painful surgery videos. Painfully yours, Joy

I have a Sandra Lee cookbook, given to me by a friend, and most of the recipes in it are too complicated for me. I understand that her creations are a joke compared to people who really cook and/or bake, but for those of us to whom the kitchen is a minefield that nevertheless has to be walked every day, she's not completely ridiculous.

That said, if a person is going to make a cake for a religious holiday they're not familiar with, some research would be in order. I do hope this episode received enough negative backlash that she doesn't try to do it again.

On to Sandra Lee. I have been watching crazy videos of her all day on YouTube and found some other cakes that I think this blog has featured. And then I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC-UIGLFSr8

It's obviously a spoof about a real intervention, but she could certainly use one, and not just for her alcoholism (It's cocktail time!). She is so incredibly OCD about her decor (perhaps why she dyes her icing to match) that she even dresses to fit the theme or color scheme of the show. In the video above, if you go to 4:27, you can see how she bought a hideous t-shirt with lemons on it that look like curtains you might have found in my mom's kitchen in 1992. And then she built an entire show around the shirt, complete with lemon "recipes" and lots of yellow decorations.

I know it's already been said, but how can she be so daft (a) to think that someone would actually eat that monstrosity (or the Kwanzaa cake with "acorns"), and (b) to not do some research and figure out that marshmallows shouldn't go in the center of a cake for a Jewish holiday, let alone the center of any cake! Seriously, they were trying to escape while she frosted the cake.

I vote that we have "12 Days of Sandra Lee" postings. Come to think of it, 12 days may be too many in a row. Our heads might explode.

I am Jewish and Sandra's cake is just a hoot.. it is sort of a like a train wreck.. you just cannot help but to watch the disaster.I like another poster, was thinking of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.. but she didn't use a bundddttt cake. :-)Seriously- sticking two triangles together would have been much better than that sorry ash start.

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What's a Wreck?

What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

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